The effect of leading edge film cooling on heat transfer was experimentally investigated using the naphthalene sublimation technique. The experiments were performed on a symmetrical model of the leading edge suction side region of a high pressure turbine blade with one row of film cooling holes on each side. Two different lateral inclinations of the injection holes were studied: 0° and 45°. In order to build a data base for the validation and improvement of numerical computations, highly resolved distributions of the heat/mass transfer coefficients were measured. Reynolds numbers (based on hole diameter) were varied from 4000 to 8000 and blowing rate from 0.0 to 1.5. For better interpretation, the results were compared with injection-flow visualizations.
Increasing the blowing rate causes more interaction between the jets and the mainstream, which creates higher jet turbulence at the exit of the holes resulting in a higher relative heat transfer. This increase remains constant over quite a long distance dependent on the Reynolds number. Increasing the Reynolds number keeps the jets closer to the wall resulting in higher relative heat transfer. The highly resolved heat/mass transfer distribution shows the influence of the complex flow field in the near hole region on the heat transfer values along the surface.